The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-11-02
certainty public opinion, and to command ii

certainty public opinion, and to command its
| support. the Executive must be able 10 lead
| it and to resist it, to estimate its power and
its weakness, to apprehend The deliberate
betrayal Itls tie abdication Of government
fused agitation, its impulse for the law.
| Apd it WAS this mistake. in estimating
| public opinion during the administration OF
Gov. Nichols that led TO many Of our diff
he he'd injected into his government that
| power and force and wrapped around it that
enthusiasm which hailed him when he went
into Office these beneficial influences would
have been felt. But, unfortunately, he mis-
took the spirit and temper Of tie people; and
a dead conservatism took the plsce of enter
prise, and lethargy succeeded to energy and
action.
Is it not 3 fact that the complaint was nniver-
sal that the administration of Coy. Nichols
was too Conservative for the times. and did
not respond to that awakening spirit that
swept over the State iii 1876?
Coy. Nichols was backed and supported by
the best equipped political arnylthst ever srls-
| tanned any man. He WAS assisted by the ablest
legislative body ever convened in this state
He Was borne into office. almost upon the
shouts of the people. TO have. gathered this
:. force and directed 1t would have given to
I Louisiana. during his term, q prosperity
that it has taken years of unremitting toll OF
the people to accomplish.
Gen. Nichols seys in his speech, read at
Zacharie and at other points in, the State,
that his candidacy for Governor has been IN
duced by the belief that he viii restore unity
to the party. According to his own state
ment he hes only to convert the few office
whom are numbered among my, friends, as
all the rest the 'purest and the best" are
within
THE RANKS OF THE BLESSED REFoRMERs.
Why then should he undertake such a task !:
Why should he go through the trouble and
the fatigue Of campaign # I'll the people eS-
cept this ,nsignifcant number are with him 7
There is 3 deeper signiticance. III his. CAM
paign. 1t must be beyond his missionary
efforts to convert these few. What is it?
The only attack the party has received has
lowers. When he was in office be, had the
undivided support of the party. Those who
did not receive recognition from HIM did not
rebel against the party had no influence
with his administration, yet, rs Democrat,
unwilling to see a Democratic administration
adversely criticised quit my. business and
made a vigorous campaign in its defense and
opposed the calling 81 d convention until
: after the expiration of his term OF Office. For
! thanks in a letter to 4. G. Stubbs. When ne
left the office the discon.cnt commenced.
When he wrote to me in one single letter.
to call my attention to those Of his late sp.
pOintees in whom he was most interested, y
he evidenced a Willingness to support the
State administration. l appointed some;
all i'll fact, that could. Then came the APP
plication for Tom Handy. the hero OF the 9th
!; letter to me. He was not appointed.
Discomfort grew into mutterings, until it
broke into dennnciatlon. a party was or.
Democracy and the local questions passed
into State issues, when Gen. Nichols, the
, leader of the movement, announced his in
,, tention to marshal all his forces, cooperate
with any party or color to break down the
: State admi1listration--.the ring, as he charnc-
terized it. There are no reasons alleged for
!. this movement, except that personal adher-
ents, according to his statement of the
powers that be, " have been selected for the
. Offices. These are Democrats and there can
. therefore, from Democratic standpoint, be
: no objection to them as long as they are
! recognized as capable and efficient. The
J State has prospered iii all her material inter
I ests: the facts and figures prove this. Y
4 nize this material advancement under 9
: Democratic administration, to which al
. Democrats have contributed: What, then. il
: the reason for this extraordinary campaign:
: progressive Democratic administration
a What other object can II have than the or
ganiZation of the State. government by {
that Gov. Nichols and his friends enter
q tain? How are we to judge, of these views
E How are we to determine the policy Of an,
. man except by. his, public expressions
' In this CAMPAIGN he utters more ex \
= ments. His past utterances however, CONF
: to us and from these we are assured of u gov
. eminent for the whole people. which mean
% ''any party or color which. will to-operai'
with him in the formation OF this new part,
to drfeat Democratic administrati If .thi
G is not his policy let him speak out to the who'll
i people of the State and declare that he is i.
Il fasur o. a white mans goyerninent, not oni,
n success, I will feel assured that lie viii onl
IS use is alliances for his own purposes. ant
a will abandon them when he shall have bee,
:. elevated to Office ard will conduct she Sat
: government on the sure line OF snccess, Whit
&c at Monroe. ] have been q careful reader o
:. colored literature in this State and hay
# seen constant and continued inctnations t
i use their majority, tnr purposes o1 rae
@ In New Orleans there is colored religion
e paper which advocates the iniscegenation o
The races, and another, which ! hold in m
If hand, which reproduced the editorial OF, tn
> he had to fee for his life, and iTldorsed /,
It This article was An insult and indignity t
l. every white woman in the South. Here
what he says of my Monroe speech:
% ''M'ESERy AT MONROE
i ''The most remarkable speech delivere
le during the present campaign for the Dems
20 cratic gubernatorisi Domina ton in this Stat
J. is hat Of Gov. McEnery at Monroe, La, o
Il the 18th. For bitterness OF expression, TO
n ranks anything that for long years has com
rs from the Democrats.
% ITO sum the speech mp, that is the polit
Y. cal part of it, Gov. McEnery believes in tn
Se supremacy of the white people, even whe
,e they. are i'll the minority. as they are |
le Louisiana. He believes, in common v, wit
is self drawn the color line, and that our civi
ID ization has to be worked out by white brains
,e white muscle and white sympathies,' an
further that the plans resorted to by the bnl
and other psees Where the Repnboans ar
m in a majority, were also right
ir IF any black man, any negro with on
"a spark of manhood in his composition, advt
a. Gates, either by act or word, the re-elecMo
m of McEGery, he is unworthy OF being q IRE
ID man, and should be scorned and treated as
v be we're O viper.n
y With that majesty of presence peculiar
him, with those Christian virtues that enve
a. a. one else possesses. with that matchless elt
10 quence that no other lips can utter, in til
10 presence of large Colored audience at lh
y ! Inauguration OF the State Colored Universit,
=, =, DIR. Palmer, with d force. and power that
= had never heard, described the civilizatio
~ of the age, the power of the Anglo-Saxo
r. race az the race clement that produced it, an
~ said that he believed in the Divine distin
IL ton of races, and that the colored race mu
= = work out it's own destiny as appointed /
u Providence, under the leadership and diye
u ton of tho Anglo-Saxon race. whose blood G
la this continents streng thened and reinforce
10 10 by the blood of the Teu:on (and..
~, ie would add. in Louisiana by a stron
We | inf Of Tho ktnSi nF the
e. Latin racel. And with Christian hear
&c moved and directed by Christian in
d ds pulses, this great race would reach out i
" hands and lift, aid, educate, assist and a.